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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A.Background of the Study
Language is an arbitrary system of articulated sound made use of by a group of human as means of carrying on the affairs of the society. It is used for human communication and social interaction. One will be able to communicate with others when they have known the language that is used. The social interaction is not used only in one country, but it develops to all countries in the whole world. The differences of geographies of region cause different language.1
Language is a life skill. It is inextricably interwoven with social experience-living in society and it develops and changes constantly as that experience evolves and changes. The students of language other than their own can be given an extraordinary opportunity to enter the language of others, to understand the complexity of the experience of others to enrich their own. To enter other culture is to re-enter one’s own, understand the better the super complex variety of human experience, and become more deeply human as a result.2
Language was not only the principal medium that human beings used to communicate with each other but also the bond that links people together and
1
Francis in Diannovita Evi P.M.A., A Contrastive Analysis on English and Indonesian Passive Voice, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Unpublished, 1956, p. 165.
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binds them to their culture. To understand our humanity, therefore, we must understand the language that made us human.3 As international language, English used by many communities in many countries in this world. It plays an important role of in every aspect of human life, such as communication, economics, education, science, and technology.One of the ways in communication is through speaking.
People in the community have their language. People can understand each other and from “A speech community”, as stated by L. B Loomfield:
“A speech community could be defined as all those who make the same responses to a set of language pattern or a group of people who interact by means of speech” and “A group of people who use the same system of speech signal are a speech community.”4
Communication is a social event that can occur anywhere without knowing the place and time5. Communication is an essential need for human being. Language as the tool of communication has an important role to reveal an intention to someone else. People will be able to express their thought and feeling by using language. Therefore, language communication and life cannot be separated.
Empirical research shows that anxious foreign language students are less willing to participate in learning activities, and have lower performance than
3
Virginia,Language Introductory Readings, New York: ST. Martin’ Press, 1981, p. 1. 4
Jos Daniel Parera, Kajian Linguistic Umum: Historis Komparatif dan Tipologi Struktural, Jakarta: Erlangga, 1991, p. 26.
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non-anxious students.6 So, students’ anxiety to speak English is very important to be solved, because it can influence their speaking ability. Besides, speaking English must be practiced toget a good pronunciation and vocabulary, especially to improve their speaking ability.
Anxiety can be described as a perceived notion of psychological distress which occurs due to the expectation of a disconcerting and potentially threatening event. Although extensive research has focused on the concept of anxiety, it cannot be defined by purely objective or concrete means.7 We define anxiety as an emotion characterized by feelings of anticipated danger, tension, and distress and by sympathetic nervous system arousal.8
According to learning theory of Thorndike, as explained by Surya states the learning theory of Thorndike represents the original S-R framework of behavioral psychology: Learning is the result of associations forming between stimuli and responses. Such associations or "habits" become strengthened or weakened by the nature and frequency of the S-R pairings. The paradigm for S-R theory was trial and error learning in which certain responses come to dominate others due to rewards. The hallmark of connectionism (like all behavioral theory) was that learning could be adequately explained without referring to any unobservable internal states. Thorndike's theory consists of three primary laws: (1) law of effect - responses to a situation which are
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Tsiplakidess, L. Helping Students Overcome Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety in the English Classroom: Theoretical Issues and Practical Recommendations. MEd in TESOL, Greek Open University. 2009, p. 39.
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Larson, H.A., Reducing Test Anxiety Among Third Grade Students Through the Implementation of Relaxation Techniques, Eastern Illinois University, 2007, p. 2.
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followed by a rewarding state of affairs will be strengthened and become habitual responses to that situation, (2) law of readiness - a series of responses can be chained together to satisfy some goal which will result in annoyance if blocked, and (3) law of exercise - connections become strengthened with practice and weakened when practice is discontinued. A corollary of the law of effect was that responses that reduce the likelihood of achieving a rewarding state (i.e. punishments, failures) will decrease in strength.9
Many causes of students anxiety to speak English, it’s important for
students’ to reduce their anxiety to speak English, as Zhang says: “A contributing factor to learners' success or failure to master second/foreign language is the manner that learners for their worries, apprehension, and even dread when faced with a certain language”10 Then based on observation, the writer has got problems in the class, the students have problem in their mental to speak English in front of class. Almost all students have the problem, when they speak English in front of class, they are seen really anxious, nervous, worried.11
Beside observation, the writer did interview also to some students. The writer asked to some students with the question “what do you feel when you
speak English in front of class?”. The first student is “AA”, his answer is “I
feel nervous when I speak English in front of class to say something to my
9
Muhammad Surya, Psikologi Pembelajaran Dan Pengajaran, Brunei Darussalam: Brunei Darussalam University, 1996, p. 29.
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Zhang, L.J., ESL Students' Classroom Anxiety, Singapore: Institute of Education, 2001, p. 52.
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friends”. The second student is “MI”, his answer is “I am not confident when I
speak English in front of class”. The third student is “OI”, her answer is “I am
afraid that the other students will laugh at me when I speak English in front of class”.12
Based on some realities above, the writer is interested in carrying out the study entitled: “Students’ Anxiety to speak English in English Class at the eleventh grade of MAN Model Palangka Raya”.
The writer wants to know the causes of students’ anxiety at eleventh
grade of MAN Model Palangka Raya because, the students have mental problem to speak English in front of class or speak to their teacher. The students are nervous, worry and not confident when speak English in front of class or speak to their teacher.
B. Problem of the Study
Based on the background of the study above, the problem of the study is: What are the causes of students’ anxiety to speak English in English class?
C. Objective of the Study
The objective of the study is to identify the causes of students’ anxiety to speak English in English class.
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D. Significance of the Study
The result of this study has two significances. 1. Theoretically
The result of this study could give contribution to support of the theories about students’ anxiety to speak English.
2. Practically
The result ofthis study could give insight about students’ anxiety to speak English. Besides, the result can be used by other researchers.
E. Definition of Key Terms
1. Anxiety is the problem in this study; anxiety is one of the psychophysiology difficulties. “Anxiety and fear are sometimes
distinguished from one another on two dimensions. The object of a fear is
easy to specify, while the object of an anxiety is often unclear. The
intensity of a fear is proportional to the magnitude of the danger.”13
2. Student is a person who studies a particular academic subject. Howe and Straus identified that students of the millennial generationhave no clear distinction between traditional notions of exam cheating and the modernnotion of information “morphing” and have a difficulty recognizing traditionaloperational definitions of academic dishonesty.14 3. Speaking is one of tools of human communication, produce sound, word,
intonation, and articulation. According to Richards and Renandya, speaking
13
Davidoff, L.L., Introduction To Psychology, Mc Graw-Hill International book company, 1981, p. 356.
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is one of the elements of communication,where communication is the output
modality and learning is the input modality of language acquisition. Richards
and Reynanda comments that “As a human being, a person always need
communication to express his idea to do everything; more over as students or
learners, they have to speak with their teacher as long as in learning process to
express their idea”.15
F. Theoretical Framework
Chapter I : Introduction, it consisted of background of the study, problems of the study, objectives of the study, significance of the study, definition of key termsand theoretical framework,
Chapter II : The review of related literatures consisted of previous study, definition of speaking, teaching speaking, problem of speaking, language anxiety, factors of anxiety, and language learning strategy.
Chapter III : The research method, that consisted of research type, research design, population and sample, research instrument, data collection procedure , and data analysis. Chapter IV : Result of the study that consisted of description of the data,
result of the data analysis; Questionnaire analyzes and interview data result.
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Chapter V : Discussion that consisted of students’ anxiety to speak English.
